Total miswriting of contemporary Lebanese history!!!! Perhaps to serve your own ends???? The destruction of Beirut began in earnest in 1973 when the Lebanese political house of cards fell apart and a civil war ensued. It included a whole series of events and actors both domestic and foreign meddling in the affairs of an accidental state of a mixture of religious groups created by the French several decades before the State of Israel was created. Hezbollah was created in 1982 in reaction to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon all the way to Beirut to destroy Palestinian refugee camps in the city. Of course the complexity of what has happened in the zone cannot be adequately addressed in either an Erickson scree or my response. And I was as much an eye-witness as he was because I was the American Cultural Attache directing a center outside the Embassy for almost a year, Dec.77 to Oct 78. My assignment was broken because it became too dangerous (the center was bombed a year later.)
Sorry to offend you Bob. I wasn’t born in 1973. I just remember the stories of my friends, who were refugees, when I was a kid. Glad you set it straight. Maybe your presumption could be I got something wrong as opposed to “serving [my] own ends.”
I also grew up in a post-WW2 NYC suburb where Jewish families were part of the "2nd" immigration from the city to the burbs along with the other two "I"s - Italians and Irish and a hodge podge of immigrants settling amongst the Wasps who had first settled in 1643. We were pro-Israel to the core. We supported the 1967 pre-emptive war into the 70's and above-all the peace process which would formalize Israel's place in the world. However, it soon seemed that neither the Israeli govt nor the recognized Palestinian leadership could trust the two-state solution. But the stalemate was not one between equals. The Israelis had all the power of the gun - offered them by the USG - and all the Palestinians had were rocks to throw. That military occupation accompanied by permanent annexations and "Jewish" settlements in the Golan Heights and West Bank is now more than a half century old. Do you really think that a people's leadership is going to accept that? The descendants of the original British settlers of America certainly didn't when the British crown became too oppressive.
Think like a Palestinian - whether living in Israel, the occupied lands or the diaspora (est. 6M of whom a quarter million in the US.) What would you be thinking?
The group officially can into being but ask those also living there at the time they were there. Of course the experiment of dividing power between religions was doomed but both Syria & Iran were working to take Lebanon from inside. Allowing all the Palestinians in also destabilized further as too many bent on destroying Israel and like now dragging Lebanese into war. So the real facts are there are those who want power, what others have (jealousy) greed, an/or to be part of something or just plain fear. Then you add hatred manufactured or real and you have a terrorist groups running (ruining) Lebanon & Gaza. It was once a prosperous place now you can’t even get your own money out.
So is there too much complexity involved for you to be able to agree that the removal of Nasrallah from the scene is a good thing, a long-deserved thing?
Not at all!!! The creation of Hezbollah was due to several factors but the prime ones were: a weak Lebanese state unable to defend its territory and the impunity of the IDF as they went head-hunting for Palestinians on Lebanese territory and occupied a part of south Lebanon for years.. So its original reason was defensive and only serendipity - the arrival of the Ayatollahs in Iran and the maturing of Hassan Nasrallah as an effective leader and strategist - gave it the ability to become the effective offensive - as well as defensive - force that it became!!!
What would also be a good thing is the removal of Bibi and the hard-right wing Zionists whose support both enables and forces him to continue killing Palestinians and effective annexation of the West Bank and Gaza through the IDF and the settler movement. The hard right of Israel's Zionist movement which now effectively determines Israeli government policy revels in the death or "voluntary" departure of every Palestinian from the West Bank or Gaza and even Arab Israelis.
And who can blame the Israelis? We all know why the USA has been cut out of the loop, and why the Israelis are telling the UN to commit an anatomical impossibility. Those chickens have come home to roost.
God will not be mocked.
No, Israel has not been perfect. They never have been--just open your Bible. But they aren't committing the unspeakable evils that their enemy is. They don't want their enemy annihilated--just to leave them the hell alone.
Islam needs to find its Martin Luther, and fast, before it becomes a nihilistic suicide cult--Jonestown without the Kool-Aid. Obviously, as a Christian, I'd love for them to realize that Isa is more than just a prophet--He is the Son of God. But baby steps here to stop the bleeding.
After the great points you made sunk in, Erick, I found myself really upset we didn't go after Nasrallah after the Marine barracks bombings. Seems very uncharacteristic of Reagan to have failed to show strength-through-retribution. Definitely made us look weak to the terror-mongers, who only respect the "strong horse," as they say.
I'm sure when he gets to the next world he'll ask where his 72 virgins are. I suspect he'll be disappointed to find out there was a misprint. It's really 72 Virginians.
Do not understand the last sentence. Are you being facetious? Or, was the editor in the vicinity of the death causing explosion? Also, thanks for your background info. It is amazing that so much of "information" today depends on the background of the source. Too bad there is not some requirement that to be published the author be required to have a public bio somewhere accessible. I suppose that would result in a lot less info. But today I have been thinking about that subject.
Yes, he is being facetious. The percentage of Washington Post editorial staffers who are al-Jazeera alumni is astonishing, and it shows in their writing. Very anti-US, anti-Israel.
God bless Israel.
Nice back hand to the Post.
Bye Felicia!
The title 'Leader of Hezbollah' now ranks up there with 'World's Oldest Person.'
Neither title will be held for long.
Love your closing paragraph!
Total miswriting of contemporary Lebanese history!!!! Perhaps to serve your own ends???? The destruction of Beirut began in earnest in 1973 when the Lebanese political house of cards fell apart and a civil war ensued. It included a whole series of events and actors both domestic and foreign meddling in the affairs of an accidental state of a mixture of religious groups created by the French several decades before the State of Israel was created. Hezbollah was created in 1982 in reaction to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon all the way to Beirut to destroy Palestinian refugee camps in the city. Of course the complexity of what has happened in the zone cannot be adequately addressed in either an Erickson scree or my response. And I was as much an eye-witness as he was because I was the American Cultural Attache directing a center outside the Embassy for almost a year, Dec.77 to Oct 78. My assignment was broken because it became too dangerous (the center was bombed a year later.)
Sorry to offend you Bob. I wasn’t born in 1973. I just remember the stories of my friends, who were refugees, when I was a kid. Glad you set it straight. Maybe your presumption could be I got something wrong as opposed to “serving [my] own ends.”
I also grew up in a post-WW2 NYC suburb where Jewish families were part of the "2nd" immigration from the city to the burbs along with the other two "I"s - Italians and Irish and a hodge podge of immigrants settling amongst the Wasps who had first settled in 1643. We were pro-Israel to the core. We supported the 1967 pre-emptive war into the 70's and above-all the peace process which would formalize Israel's place in the world. However, it soon seemed that neither the Israeli govt nor the recognized Palestinian leadership could trust the two-state solution. But the stalemate was not one between equals. The Israelis had all the power of the gun - offered them by the USG - and all the Palestinians had were rocks to throw. That military occupation accompanied by permanent annexations and "Jewish" settlements in the Golan Heights and West Bank is now more than a half century old. Do you really think that a people's leadership is going to accept that? The descendants of the original British settlers of America certainly didn't when the British crown became too oppressive.
Think like a Palestinian - whether living in Israel, the occupied lands or the diaspora (est. 6M of whom a quarter million in the US.) What would you be thinking?
Criticism taken.
The group officially can into being but ask those also living there at the time they were there. Of course the experiment of dividing power between religions was doomed but both Syria & Iran were working to take Lebanon from inside. Allowing all the Palestinians in also destabilized further as too many bent on destroying Israel and like now dragging Lebanese into war. So the real facts are there are those who want power, what others have (jealousy) greed, an/or to be part of something or just plain fear. Then you add hatred manufactured or real and you have a terrorist groups running (ruining) Lebanon & Gaza. It was once a prosperous place now you can’t even get your own money out.
So is there too much complexity involved for you to be able to agree that the removal of Nasrallah from the scene is a good thing, a long-deserved thing?
Not at all!!! The creation of Hezbollah was due to several factors but the prime ones were: a weak Lebanese state unable to defend its territory and the impunity of the IDF as they went head-hunting for Palestinians on Lebanese territory and occupied a part of south Lebanon for years.. So its original reason was defensive and only serendipity - the arrival of the Ayatollahs in Iran and the maturing of Hassan Nasrallah as an effective leader and strategist - gave it the ability to become the effective offensive - as well as defensive - force that it became!!!
What would also be a good thing is the removal of Bibi and the hard-right wing Zionists whose support both enables and forces him to continue killing Palestinians and effective annexation of the West Bank and Gaza through the IDF and the settler movement. The hard right of Israel's Zionist movement which now effectively determines Israeli government policy revels in the death or "voluntary" departure of every Palestinian from the West Bank or Gaza and even Arab Israelis.
Try reading https://jinsa.org/israel-palestinians-genocide-harounoff/ The url, like many headlines is misleading because the report is mostly about segregation and deprivation of rights.
A very good reason for celebration.
Especially loved that last sentence!
Blinken and Sullivan must be so upset. Totally irrelevant.
The Beeb had an article ( https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgn5xkp3rko ) lamenting the fact that the West no longer has any sway over Israel.
And who can blame the Israelis? We all know why the USA has been cut out of the loop, and why the Israelis are telling the UN to commit an anatomical impossibility. Those chickens have come home to roost.
God will not be mocked.
No, Israel has not been perfect. They never have been--just open your Bible. But they aren't committing the unspeakable evils that their enemy is. They don't want their enemy annihilated--just to leave them the hell alone.
Islam needs to find its Martin Luther, and fast, before it becomes a nihilistic suicide cult--Jonestown without the Kool-Aid. Obviously, as a Christian, I'd love for them to realize that Isa is more than just a prophet--He is the Son of God. But baby steps here to stop the bleeding.
Buh Bye now.
After the great points you made sunk in, Erick, I found myself really upset we didn't go after Nasrallah after the Marine barracks bombings. Seems very uncharacteristic of Reagan to have failed to show strength-through-retribution. Definitely made us look weak to the terror-mongers, who only respect the "strong horse," as they say.
I, too, was surprised at Reagan's lack of effective response.
I'm sure when he gets to the next world he'll ask where his 72 virgins are. I suspect he'll be disappointed to find out there was a misprint. It's really 72 Virginians.
He'll be one of the 72 virgins.
Boom! Literally and figuratively. The U.S. has zero moral clarity.
Well said sir!!
Do not understand the last sentence. Are you being facetious? Or, was the editor in the vicinity of the death causing explosion? Also, thanks for your background info. It is amazing that so much of "information" today depends on the background of the source. Too bad there is not some requirement that to be published the author be required to have a public bio somewhere accessible. I suppose that would result in a lot less info. But today I have been thinking about that subject.
Yes, he is being facetious. The percentage of Washington Post editorial staffers who are al-Jazeera alumni is astonishing, and it shows in their writing. Very anti-US, anti-Israel.